


I'll take the quiet life

by Liviapenn



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Bad Decisions, Multi, Season/Series 05, Threesome, m/m/f
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-11-25
Updated: 2002-11-25
Packaged: 2017-10-14 09:53:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/148010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liviapenn/pseuds/Liviapenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remember that one time that Xander and Anya probably should have talked more? Yeah, so that happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll take the quiet life

He really thinks the conversation is over. He talked for a long time about why boundaries are healthy, and put together a thoroughly researched and well-presented lecture on The Ways In Which Pornography Differs From Reality. He explained how some things are just *way* too confusing, and ended the discussion by saying firmly, "And besides, Buffy would kick both our asses," which was the one thing Anya didn't actually have an comeback for.

She sulked for a while, like Anya always does when faced unexpectedly with one of life's harsh realities. It didn't worry Xander; she'd come out of it sooner or later. Still, he prefers sooner, so he buys one of those big pink daisies from the flower-stand on the corner on his way home and gives it to her that night. Sooner comes with a smile. They make pizza for dinner and sweet Sarah McLachlan love that night, and Anya doesn't bring it up again. For almost an entire day and a half.

Which is when Riley comes over for the usual Friday night kung-fu movie fest and flops down on the couch, pushing the coffee table aside slightly to stretch out his long legs. He sits for a while, present but utterly distant, managing to make Xander uncomfortable from almost three feet away.

"Buffy and I broke up."

Xander chokes on his popcorn, and immediately twists his head around to stare at Anya, who's lying on the floor flipping through the Wall Street Journal. He was afraid she'd be grinnig, but she looks appropriately horrified.

"Oh, Riley! We're terribly sorry." Anya folds the paper shut and sits up. "Of course you can depend on us in this..." She squints, wobbles, and recovers. "Bad time."

"Sorry, man," Xander offers. Riley nods.

Anya leans forward. "When did this happen?"

"Last week." Riley sighs, leaning back into the couch. "Just after we helped you move in. She didn't want to tell anybody until... Well, she wanted to prove that we could still be friends, I guess. She's telling Willow and Giles tonight."

"Well, *that* sucks." Xander says, and Riley glances over his shoulder at him. "I mean-- she gets the wise and supportive Scoobies, chock full of good advice, and you get me and Anya?"

"We can be supportive!" Anya shuffles on her knees over to the couch and flops forward between Riley's knees to hug his torso. "There, there," she says, rubbing her cheek against his chest. "There, there."

Riley looks at Xander, then leans forward into the hug. Xander reaches over and pats Riley's shoulder, adding what he hopes is a manly squeeze.

Anya sighs happily and pulls away from the hug, standing up and dusting off her dress. "Xander. Can I talk to you in the kitchen?"

*

He crosses his arms across his chest. She stamps her bare foot lightly against the linoleum. He shakes his head, glaring.

"I said 'no' and 'no' is still... it's still no!"

"But it's different now." Anya insists. "Buffy let him go! He's a free agent! And they've been broken up for a week, so he's probably extremely sexually frustrated--"

"Anya!"

"Xander. It's not cheating if we're both involved."

"I don't want to be involved!"

"You can tell me the truth, you know." Anya sighs. "I don't *mind*-- he is very attractive."

"Um. Guys."

Xander looks over into the living room as Riley stands up, rubbing his hands nervously down his thighs.

"I can hear you. Just so you know."

"Oh god." Xander covers his face. The Friday night movie is still playing, and he can hear ninjas screaming, leaping and dying. This is really happening. The universe is so cruel.

He hears Anya sigh as she heads back into the living room. She picks up the remote control and clicks the TV off decisively. "Riley, we'd like to have sex. With you."

"No, we don't!" Xander protests weakly.

"He really does, you see, because he wants me to be happy." Anya says fondly, and Xander opens his eyes to see her push Riley back down onto the couch. "Xander *likes* it when I'm happy-- it makes me want to do nice things for him. Nice *sexual* things," she clarifies, needlessly. "Sometimes involving various foodstuffs, or outfits, or things we've seen on the Internet. Now," she says, kneeling in front of Riley again, pushing his knees apart, "I want something nice."

"Xander!" Riley yelps, catching Anya's hands as they reach for the fly of his jeans. He looks up, startled, as Xander's hands land on his shoulders, pushing him down into the soft cushions.

Heart pounding, Xander stands behind the couch, looking down at Anya.

Riley is trapped between them, obviously reluctant to let go of Anya's hands. He twists his head around, staring up at Xander, mouth half open.

"You want her?" Xander says roughly.

"Xander--"

"It's okay," he says, and begins kneading Riley's shoulders. "I know."

"Let go of my hands." Anya commands. "I need my hands."

There's a long moment when nothing happens, except that Riley gets more and more tense. Almost reflexively, Xander tightens his grip.

And Riley lets go.

*

Anya takes Riley's hands and pushes them down into the cushions, then pats his thigh in an oddly reassuring gesture. She's smiling at him-- no, Riley realizes, and his face flushes, and he stares straight ahead, eyes locked on the bare blank wall. She's looking past him. She's smiling at *Xander.*

He breaks into a sweat before she even has his zipper all the way down. This isn't the kind of thing that ever happens where Riley comes from-- this isn't the kind of thing that ever happens to to guys like him.

Anya's nimble fingers tug his cock out through the slit in his briefs and then he's engulfed in the hottest, wettest little mouth. A grunt escapes Riley's gritted teeth as he gets instantly hard. He can't move his hands. He can't feel his feet.

He's not looking down, he's *not* looking. She swirls her tongue, and he grows harder inside her mouth, sparking a sweet little muffled squeal of delight that he can *feel*-- oh god he *has* to look. Trying to keep his chin level, he darts his eyes down, but all he can see is her tousled mop of wavy curls, tied back with a red ribbon. Her ponytail bounces as her mouth moves on him.

He can feel the warmth of Xander's body against the back of his neck. He wants to shrink away from Xander's wide hands, he wants to get the hell out of here. He wants to be pinned to the couch and taken and used, by Anya, by Xander, by anyone. The image makes him grunt, an embarrassing noise. He squeezes his eyes closed, hips beginning to jerk despite his best efforts to stay still. Anya moans her approval, the buzz going straight to his gut. Oh, God, he's going to come. He has to. He tries to gasp out a warning, tries to jerk away, but he's pinned, trapped, can't-- gonna--

"You gonna come in her hot little mouth, Riley? Are you gonna--" Xander's whisper is shockingly loud in his ear, and Riley strains back, tensing, and comes.

\-----

Anya pets Riley's cock fondly and leans back on her heels. "Ow," she says as she bangs her elbow on the corner of the coffee table, but even that doesn't wipe the satisfied smile off her face for more than a second. "Xander," she says, licking her lips, "are we kissing on the mouth?"

"What?"

"Can I kiss Riley on the mouth?" Anya repeats, head cocked, and Xander blinks at the back of Riley's head. Riley is staring away, out the windows, out at the night. But somehow Xander knows.

He comes around to the side of the couch and gets down on his knees. Riley glances away quickly, flushed and sweating, but it's still there. That halfway broken look. That same look he had in the basement when he said he knew that Buffy didn't love him.

"Hey," Xander says, and Riley turns to look at him. Xander moves without thinking: story of his life. Riley's face is hot, or maybe it's just that Xander's hands are cold. Or maybe both.

His gut clenches and his toes curl as he leans over the arm of the couch and presses his mouth awkwardly to Riley's. He means to linger just long enough to be real, to make it clear this is no pity kiss. But Riley's lips part slightly under his, and he makes that same noise he made when Anya was sucking him, that sweet, shocked choke. And Xander closes his eyes, losing himself in the strange wide mouth. He dares a brush of tongue over Riley's lip, and Riley opens to him, shaking. Xander doesn't even know how long they've been kissing by the time he finally pulls back, and his heart twists at the new shine in Riley's eyes.

"Oh." Anya says, soft and delighted. "I should only have a camera."

"What--" Riley jumps, glancing at Anya, then Xander, and suddenly instead of post-orgasmic haze, Xander is seeing the unmistakable and familiar signs of a good old-fashioned Sunnydale post-orgasmic panic attack.

"I-- I should be going." Riley stands up, spine rail-straight, then flushes hard and fumbles to zip and button his jeans. Anya jumps to her feet, and Xander's spidey-sense, finely tuned to alert him when she's about to cause potentially fatal awkwardness levels, actually works for once.

"It's okay!" he says to no one, and behind Riley's back, performs a quick rendition of the classic mime routine _Anya, Honey, World Of No._

Anya glares past Riley, opening her mouth to protest. He stares at her, jerks towards the door like he's leaving, then freezes in his tracks. Turning back towards Anya, he reaches out and catches her around the waist, pulling her up against him, bending down to press a fierce kiss to her mouth. She melts against him, hands down by her sides, head tilted back at what looks like an awkward angle, and it's both intensely disturbing and one of the hottest things Xander's ever seen. And then Riley lets her go, flashes a freaked-out glance at Xander, and is out the door and gone.

Xander slumps back down against the couch, resting his head against the fabric.

"Oh, honey." Anya curls up in the spot Riley just left and pets Xander's head. "Are you having homosexual panic?"

"I'm an American male, I'm always having homosexual panic-- only *now* there's actually a good reason why!" Xander bangs his head against the back of the couch. "Not to mention that we completely freaked Riley out, and-- and--"

She grins at him, heading into the bedroom. "He'll be over next Friday. We can talk then."

Xander stands there for a moment in the empty living room, then rubs his forehead and follows her.

Anya is standing by the head of the bed, getting undressed. As she turns to her dresser to pick out a pair of pajamas, Xander has a sudden sentimental rush of feeling for her back, for the two freckles just above the hem of her panties and her bony shoulderblades, like a bird's wings under the skin.

He consciously softens his voice. "I don't know if he's going to come back next Friday, An."

"Don't you know that joke?" she asks, her voice muffled by the gold silk pajama top she's pulling over her head.

Xander is lost. "Unless you're referring to my life...?"

Hair tousled, Anya turns to him, smiling slyly. "What do you call a guy who won't kiss you after you blow him?"

"Um..." Xander sits on his side of the bed. "Oddly, no, I've never heard that one."

"You don't call him at all!" Anya announces it like a headline, spreading her arms wide and grinning. The girl hammers home punch lines with a sledgehammer. It's one of the things he loves about her, actually. "But, don't you see, Xander-- he did kiss me."

Xander frowns, kicking off his shoes and flopping over onto the bed. He's not even undressed yet, but he's very tired all of a sudden. "He's Riley. He's polite that way."

"Polite doesn't involve tongue," Anya murmurs. "Unless you're a Grathei demon, but that's a whole big thing." She slides onto the bed, and caresses Xander's chest through his T-shirt. "Are you having second thoughts?"

"Would it matter?"

"Don't be ridiculous." She rests her head on his chest again, and he sighs, just feeling her slowly falling asleep in his arms. It's been a long day, and a long week,if he falls asleep now... well, so what? He'll sleep on top of the covers, in his jeans. He'll sleep in the arms of the woman he loves.

"I won't lose you," she murmurs, just as Xander is about to close his eyes.

He holds Anya until she starts to toss and turn. But he doesn't sleep at all that night.

[end]


End file.
